foxglove-press

[foxglove-press]

New year, new book! I had front row seats to @banyanas' Day One Dark since it still went by its working title of 'Chasing Daybreak.' This one has been a work in progress for a while: I actually finished the text formatting last year, and then spent a few months figuring out the best way to incorporate some of the extra touches like the full color illustrated spread -- and now that the author copy has safely made it home, I'm finally ready to gush about it!

This is definitely a longer work, capping out at 200 pages exactly, but based on experience it wasn't long enough to warrant another attempt at a rounded back, so I kept with the flat back format. Given the subject matter, I aimed for a volcanic motif with the case and endpapers: the black bookcloth and cover papers with the partly-cooled magma look combined really well with the brighter magmatic colors of the flyleaves.

Overall I'm so happy with how this turned out, especially given the long hiatus from crafting. I'm so happy with how this one turned out, and I'm delighted that the author now has a copy to hold in their hands! ❤

Text Block

Title: Just in the Firestorm ("Day One") and Bomber Escort Condensed ("Dark")

Chapter Headings: Square Metal-7 (Timeline), Bomber Escort Condensed (main titles), Cursed Timer ULiL (date headers)

Body Font: Things Digital (Timeline) and Garamond (main story)

Front Matter and Appendix: Garamond

Center Ornaments: Modified from generic text decorations

Sewing: Burgundy Irish Linen

Case

Cover Papers: French P Marbled Papers (#928)

End Papers: Thai Marble Momi (Firestorm)

Book Cloth: Jet Black Starched Linen Bookcloth

Headband: Solid Black Cotton

Bookmark: Handmade embroidery floss tassel with rose gold dragon head spacer and 8mm red howlite turquoise beads

[foxglove-press]

My second book with the imprint! Crest Control is special to me because I got a chance to witness this story's whole creation process, from the earliest concepts through to the posting of the final chapter on AO3. I love the story in particular for how it tackles trauma and recovery, and how that process is neither linear nor swift -- but it's not impossible, even if there are backslides in the process.

Given that this is a shorter story overall, making it a flat back bind was an easy choice. Because of the heavy focus on flowers throughout the narrative, I decided to go with a plant theme for the entire bind: the covers have visible leaves in the paper, and the front and end papers are different to show the arc of progress throughout the story. The text ornaments are also handmade, keeping with the plant theme and transitioning from thorny vines to budding branches to a blooming rose throughout the narrative arc.

I really love how this bind turned out, and I'm so happy I could get a copy to @cheeseandcake-from-ao3 -- this story is a wonderful achievement, and I'm honored that I could both witness its creation and make it into a book for the author to hold as proof of the amazing work they did. ❤

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Title: Horrible Brush

Chapter Headings: Horrible Brush (Chapters 1-3), The Monster (Chapters 4-8), ediana (Chapters 9-12), and Ralgani (Epilogue, Gallery, Appendix)

Body Font: Baskerville Old Face

Front Matter and Appendix: Garamond

Center Ornaments: Modified from generic text decorations including thorny vines, budding branches, and a blooming rose

Sewing: Dark Green Irish Linen

Case

Cover Papers: Black Mango Leaf Tissue

End Papers: Red and Coral Flowers Chiyogami (Front) and White and Gold Flowers on Slate Lokta (Back)

Book Cloth: Jet Black Starched Linen Bookcloth

Headband: Green and White Cotton Check

Bookmark: Sprig Green and White Twill, 3/8"; Silver end crimp and Sterling Silver Lily charm

[foxglove-press]

My first book with the new imprint! The first time I read A Whirlwind of Crimson by Nelenus was two years ago, at this point, but it's stuck with me consistently since. When I started getting into ficbinding, I knew going in that I wanted to make a project out of this one, so I decided to take the plunge and go for it as one of my first projects.

My initial draft was an attempt at a rounded back binding, which went generally well! Unfortunately, the back end paper ended up a bit warped, and the book overall wasn't quite thick enough to get the most out of the rounded back, being about 3/4 inch thick; however, I loved the look of the cover and decided to make the author copy a flat back, instead, using most of the same materials (though I swapped the sakura end papers for camellia flowers) in combination with a slightly different style.

This ended up being a project with a lot of firsts for me: not only is it the first test on the Foxglove Press imprint, it was also my first time trying out a new sanding method for the pages, my first time incorporating a decorative trim strip, and my first time making my own text ornaments! Incorporating Crests into them was a no-brainer, with it being a Three Houses fic, but the prevalence of Almyran perspective proved more challenging. In the end, I essentially made my own Almyran Emblem using the imagery from the Three Houses artbook.

I'm so happy I was able to get in touch with the author and send this to them; it's a story that holds a special place in my heart, and I'm glad I could give something back to the writer responsible.

Text Block

Title: CARIBBEAN TOOL, Cassandra (Whirlwind), and Dirty and Classic (Crimson) with spot color

Chapter Headings: CARIBBEAN TOOL (Text) and Colonna MT (Numbers)

Body Font: Baskerville Old Face (Main) and Peacemaker (Letter)

Front Matter and Appendix: Garamond

Center Ornaments: Modified from generic text decorations to use the Crest of the first perspective character; Almyran Emblem developed using the imagery from the Almyran Flag

Sewing: Burgundy Irish Linen

Case

Cover Papers: Gold/Black on Red Marbled Lokta

Trim Strip: Gold Metallic Lokta Papers

End Papers: Lacquered Camellia Chiyogami

Book Cloth: Cialux Brown Italian Bookcloth

Headband: Black and Red Cotton Check

Bookmark: Offray Double Faced Red, 3/8"; Gold end crimp and Crest of Riegan charm